"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis

Saturday, December 02, 2017

Is ME-02's Congressional Seat For Sale? Let's Hope Not

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One way America has been turning into a plutocracy is because the Democratic Party, at least since Pelosi picked Rahm Emanuel to head the DCCC over a decade ago-- has mimicked the Republican Party in recruiting self-funding multimillionaires to run for Congress, all but shutting out working class aspirants for public office. These multimillionaires tend to be far more conservative than non-multimillionaires, though wealthy people-- like Rahm and Pelosi-- are incapable of seeing that. This cycle the DCCC is knee deep in multimillionaire self funder shit once again.One of the worst of the worst is spoiled rich kid Lucas St. Clair in Maine, who thinks he can parachute into a blue collar district (ME-02) from the elite coastal enclaves (of ME-01) and win by spreading around some of his mother's ill-gotten wealth. He's the candidate of Pelosi and the Maine Donors Table headed by hedge fund crook and slum lord Selwyn Donald Sussman. Sussman backs conservative Democrats against progressives and he recruited St. Clair to run, soon after giving Hillary Clinton's losing campaign $21,613,800. (Maine went strongly for Bernie and against Hillary-- 64.3% to 35.5%. Although Hillary (and Sussman, her single biggest contributor) lost every single county in Maine, Bernie did especially well in the counties that make up ME-02.The media tends to describe St. Clair someone "born into a cabin with no electricity or running water... a baker, a professional fishing guide and small businessman." Somehow they never mention that he's a trust fund baby, the son of the villainous Roxanne Quimby, the woman who stole Burt's Bees from a simple Maine farmer, fired all the Mainers, moved the operation to North Carolina and became very, very, very wealthy. [Please watch the video above; you'll love me for turning you on to it.] She became wealthy enough so that Lucas could go to fancy schools-- like Le Cordon Bleu in London-- and play at being an outdoorsman, an environmentalist and, of course, a philanthropist. His plan-- and Sussman's plan-- is to bury the popular working class candidate in the race, Jared Golden, in an avalanche of everything money can buy. If that happens, Republican incumbent Bruce Poliquin will have no worries about his reelection in a district Trump won.In 2013, Esquire reported that then, Burt of Burt's Bees was living in a turkey coop. He's dead now. The company and the packaging may bear his name but St. Clair's mother stole the company from him. In 1984, Burt Shavitz was a beekeeper in Maine and he picked up hitchhiker Roxanne Quimby. They became lovers and business partners.

When the company incorporated in 1991, Burt owned one third of the company and Quimby owned the other two thirds. By 1993, the company had moved its headquarters to Durham, NC to deal with increasing demand. Quimby controlled product development, while Burt traveled to manage the retail stores.And his eye, it wandered.Burt took up with a college-age girl from one of the stores, and the affair led to one hell of a breakup with Quimby. In the aftermath, he received a house and 50 acres of property for his share of the company. The value: $130,000. Remember, Burt's Bees is now worth over $1 billion.Bum deal for Burt, but Quimby did give him $4 million when she sold off 80% of Burt's Bees for $173 million. And the company still pays him an undisclosed amount to use his likeness and name. Still, Burt's out millions. Hundreds of millions. Let this be a lesson, guys: Don't cheat.

Now Quimby wants her son to be a congressman. And she and her friends think they have the money to buy the seat. I have a feeling the voters in ME-02 won;'t fall for it, even if Democratic movers-and-shakers with an eye for the cash will.